Caudwell Marine

01. Steering Axis
Driven by the dual-acting rack and pinion power assist system, the entire gear-train revolves around the engine crank plane axis of input. Clever gear design and left hand rotation render the drive, completely torque neutral.

02. Walking Joint
Normally only found in aviation due to the high engineering tolerances, all hydraulics for trim and tilt and gearshift operation are routed through a walking joint, eliminating the need for hydraulic braided pipes and hoses.

03. Integral Dry Sump Oil Pump
The intelligent design of the oil pump puts the oil where it is needed most: at the gears and the bearings. This means the gears run free and do not have to churn up oil and give away valuable horse-power.

04. Integrated Trim and Tilt
All trim and tilt functions are fed via the trim pack and walking joint. No hydraulic rams or hoses are exposed to the environment. This dual-rate system has an automatic over-lock for trailing; a pop-off release valve for a prop strike; and shear pin for catastrophic impact.

05. Hydraulic Actuation
The hydraulic actuator activates the soft engage cone clutch and has been tested for literally millions of shifts.

06. Actuator Sensing
The actuator sensor is an intelligent system that has a number of features. It offers start-in-gear protection, done where it should be – at the clutch and not the binnacle. It will advise the DCU when a shift is in process and drop the engine idle momentarily, as well as confirming to the DCU that a shift is fully engaged before allowing the engine to resume its target RPM or accelerate. And it does all this in 0.2 of a second.

07. Soft Engage High Torque Cone Clutch
Using a unique spiral spline engage and release mechanism, the engage and disengage process is finger-light and noiseless. No crunching of the dog clutch, vibrations or thudding – just a smooth, effortless transition and huge torque capability.

08. Spiral Bevels and Offset Helical Gear Reduction
All Caudwell Marine™ gears are hard-cut racing specification gears. These are not lapped or shot peened, but are true Le Mans endurance-specification gears, designed to run at optimal speed with minimal wear.
Because spiral bevel gears are very expensive to make, all reduction, from 2.683 to to 1.876 is done with helical gears, cross-cut to reduce gear noise.

09. Trim Axis
After reduction has happened - and we need to do this to maximize prop speed and efficiency - power is transmitted through a cross shaft, around which, magically, the trim axis also happens. So with no engine movement and no universal joint, all the power goes where it should: to the propeller.